Alabama may
not have the nation's most prolific beer industry, but by one measure, it does
have the fastest growing.

California
had the most new breweries in 2012 with 31, according to data collected
by Bloomberg.com. But California already had 332 breweries in 2011, meaning
the number of breweries only increased by a little more than 9 percent.

Alabama
ended 2011 with only seven breweries statewide, but nearly doubled that in
2012, adding five more. That change of more than 71 percent led the nation,
followed by Kentucky at 61 percent (eight new breweries for 21 in 2012).

The data
come from the Beer Institute and the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade
Bureau. The numbers are for permitted brewers, so may include new breweries
that have filed their paperwork and acquired permits but aren't fully
operational.

Alabama's
high growth rate is mostly due to the small number of breweries operating in
the state. Only 10 states and the District of Columbia have fewer breweries.
Mississippi, the last state without legal homebrewing until a law passed in
March goes into effect July 1, added one brewery in 2012 to bring its total to
three.